How to Compost Whey

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You've probably heard that you should keep dairy products and meat out of your compost for fear of attracting vermin -- but whey might be a different story. Whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese-making, has a high protein content and can be used to make ricotta cheese, season soups and stews, or as a protein supplement for your pets. If you're not ready to reuse it and you want to compost it instead, you'll have to take a bit more care than you would with other kitchen scraps. Still, it's a viable addition to the bin.

1

Purchase a compost bin from a garden or farm supply store, choosing one that's totally enclosed and insulated -- to create the heat that your potentially anaerobic materials will not create -- and has strong sides so vermin can't chew through it.

2

Fill the composter with carbon materials, such as dry leaves or twigs, nearly all the way to the top of the bin. Compost bins typically need a ratio of 4 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.

3

Pour your whey into the bin -- it acts as the nitrogen source for your compost here -- and then turn over the materials with a shovel or pitchfork to allow the whey to soak into the carbon material. Add enough whey so the carbon materials soak up the liquid, but not so much that liquid spills or seeps out of any part of the bin.

4

Turn the materials over again every few days. If you smell any foul odors coming from the bin, add more leaves, twigs or other brown carbon materials and stir the bin even more often.

Things You Will Need

Compost bin

Carbon material

Shovel or pitchfork

Tips

If you have a bin that is really soaked with liquid, you've added too much whey, and you'll need to separate it into other bins or create a larger compost pile.

You can also add kitchen scraps, manure and coffee grounds to the bin as sources of nitrogen, but try to keep your bin to the 4-to-1 carbon-to-nitrogen ratio.

Another great way to dispose of small amounts of whey is to pour it into the soil around your tomatoes, a trick gardeners use to boost the plants' health and prevent common tomato diseases.

Warning

Wear gloves when working with compost, to prevent the spread of bad bacteria as the compost breaks down. Don't use the compost for garden applications unless it is dark brown or black and earthy-smelling. If it smells sour or foul, it's likely to have harmful bacteria that could be bad for you or your plants. If that's the case, you may be using too much whey in relation to the amount of carbon in your compost.

About the Author

Nicole Vulcan has been a journalist since 1997, covering parenting and fitness for The Oregonian, careers for CareerAddict, and travel, gardening and fitness for Black Hills Woman and other publications. Vulcan holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and journalism from the University of Minnesota. She's also a lifelong athlete and is pursuing certification as a personal trainer.